Thin Crust Pizza in Singapore – Da Paolo Pizza, Chip Bee Gardens

How does Da Paolo Pizza measure up to this NYers discerning palate for pizza?

As it turns out pizza is all over Asia. Asians and Westerners alike love the food and so no matter where you go, it is not hard to find. In Singapore there are many options, one of the more popular being Da Paolo Pizza in Chip Bee Gardens. This former NYer has a discerning palette for pizza. Would Da Paolo measure up?

We popped by for a leisurely Saturday afternoon lunch. Paul is an avid baker and one of his favourite bakery supply shops is on the same street. Da Paolo Pizza is practically next door, so we swung down and got ourselves a seat on the terrace with a view to share a pizza and a salad and catch up after a long week of travelling. The venue itself is quite charming…a quiet residential street with lots of little cafes and the Da Paolo vibe is modern Italian with a slight bit of rustic-ness in the thick wooden tables.

We couldn’t resist the chef’s special advertised on the chalk board – the Chef’s Special Pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, salami and sautéed spinach (S$20 / $14 USD). And then we also wanted to try a salad. After perusing the long list of entrée style salads, I chose the Romaine Lettuce with Oven Baked Egg and Mushroom with Shaved Parmesan (S$16 / $11 USD).

The salad came first and in a word was disappointing. The croutons seemed like the packaged sort, it was underdressed and the egg and sautéed mushrooms were cold. We have had such amazing salads elsewhere with soft boiled eggs and baked eggs that it was just sad that it was presented without taking advantage of the interplay of warm egg and crispy cool lettuce. Sigh…

OK, but this is a pizza place, perhaps the final judgement would be in the pizza? The pizza itself was good, but perhaps slightly bland. I would expected the pizza itself and perhaps the spinach to be better seasoned. It is a roster of ingredients that should have popped with flavour. Not the excellence we would have expected from the Chef’s Special.

I am sorry to say, Da Paolo pizza does not make our short list of recommended pizza places in Singapore. There are so many pizza places in Singapore offering Italian style pizza at a similar price point – we just didn’t see the value at Da Paolo. Not a disaster mind you, but not a destination pizza ….meaning, I wouldn’t run back to have another at Da Paolo any time soon.

I have come to the conclusion that if you go to a pizza place, just stick with ordering pizza. We have a great pizza place here and they offer about 30 kinds of pizzas and a few salads, but pizza is definitely why you want to visit the place! Happy pizza hunting!